Modern walls such as the ones used in businesses and other commercial settings are often made of a gypsum wallboard or plasterboard. This material is easy to work with and install and is long lasting under normal conditions. However, it is also relatively easy to damage, and a dent or hole can easily be made in such walls if an object impacts thereagainst. Repairing such damage is time consuming, and if the paint or wall covering in the vicinity of the hole is damaged, repairs can become quite expensive. Other wall types are more resistant to structural damage, but the finish or covering thereon may still be easily damaged and require costly repairs.
Such damage can occur anywhere that large objects are being moved by hand or by a wheeled cart or hand truck. Wall damage is a particular problem in high traffic areas such as hospitals and hotels where stretchers and service carts are in constant use. Hospital stretchers are frequently parked against walls, and in emergencies, there is little time to worry about wall damage. Likewise in hotels, the daily use of cleaning carts, wheeled room service tables and laundry carts will eventually lead to wall damage. Wheeled garbage carts can cause similar problems in a wide variety of settings.
In industrial settings such as factories and warehouses, the appearance of walls is not of great concern, and concrete or cinder blocks may be used to provide practically indestructible walls. However in hospitals and hotels, for example, it is important to preserve the appearance of hallways and rooms, despite the high potential for wall damage. Various types of wall protectors have been employed in the past with various degrees of success. Wooden handrails, if properly positioned, can afford some degree of protection to the walls on which they are mounted. However, the finished surfaces of these rails can be scratched and dented by carts and stretchers. This does not solve the original problem but merely shifts it to a new surface. Protective padding can also be hung on walls, but for aesthetic as well as practical reasons, this is usually only done temporarily, such as when large furniture is being moved.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,842,564 to Brown, 4,078,773 to Ellington and 5,288,048 to Shriener all disclose handrails which could be used to protect walls in high traffic areas. However, all show relatively complex structural designs which would lead to high manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the devices of Brown and Ellington must be positioned far enough from a wall to allow access to fastening screws and bolts located between the rail and the wall. The relatively long bracket needed to create this spacing provides a torque arm long enough to allow the mounting brackets to be pulled from the wall if significant downward force is exerted on the rail. Additionally, the openings on the rail portions of these prior art protectors must be carefully aligned with the openings on the mounting brackets. This requires carefully measurement during installation. If any openings are out of alignment, new holes will be needed in the wall or rail. There is no relative adjustability between the rail and the mounting hardware. The complex designs and limited effectiveness of these and other known handrails make such devices less than satisfactory for protecting an underlying wall.